Dandelions
by crowleyhasfeelz
Summary: A bunch of guys in school have been making fun of Castiel Novak. Dean, wanting to fit in can't help but join in. But something in Dean causes him to have a change of heart.


Freshman year in High School was supposed to be the worst year of your High School life, at least that is what Dean Winchester had always believed. You hear rumors about being at the bottom of the food chain and how life does not start to get better for you until you enter your Sophomore year. While this may be true for some, it could not be further from the truth for Dean. Before he even entered High School, the football team was after him. Starting Freshman year of the Football Varsity team had its advantages, one of which was being what Dean would call 'being cool.'

Along the path of being cool, some major changes occurred in his life. He stopped hanging out with a lot of his friends from junior high, including his friends Jo and Ash. They all exchanged harsh words when Dean ignored them when he was around his football friends. But Dean's desperate need for attention caused him to push away two of the closest friends he had, not to mention his best friend, Castiel. Dean never really hung out with Castiel in public. He was his next door neighbor and was homeschooled, so there was not really a chance to hang out with him any other time than after school. But now, here he was, a freshman at the same High School as Dean.

"Did you see the freak today?" Victor, a junior on the Football team who was slowly becoming one of Dean's new best friends.

"Which freak would that be brotha?" Benny questioned, adding in the notion that there was more than one freak that attended their school.

"That Casti something," Victor shook his head, unable to really remember the name of Castiel, the boy Dean spent most of his childhood hanging out with in the treehouse that sat between both of their backyards. "You know, the bee kid."

"Castiel," Dean spoke up, but did not say anything more.

"Yeah," Victor patted Dean on the shoulder as a thanks and then went back to changing into his gym clothes. "That freak. You see the getup he has on today?"

"Can't say that I have," Benny shrugged as he worked the laces of his sneakers. "Don't tell me that boy is in a dress or something."

"I don't even know what you call it," Victor scrunched his face together. "He kind of looked like he was one of those one guys, you know, the ones that fight with the swords that aren't really swords and they wear that crap on their faces?"

"That would be called fencing," Benny shot Victor a smile that insinuated that he was a little daft and Victor reached out and punched Benny in the side of the leg.

"Yeah whatever," Victor pulled his shirt over his head and continued his story, which was making Dean more and more uncomfortable but he was too nervous to speak up. "He was wearing something like that. Kid is a total waste of space."

Dean quickly finished getting his gym clothes on and headed straight for the door. He may be too coward to stand up for someone he once called his best friend but that did not mean he had to stick around and listen to the harsh words being spoken about him. Dean instead focused all of his attention on running, which seemed to be the theme of today's gym class. He ran so hard at one point he felt he was going to pass out but he could not allow himself to stop.

Once class was over, Dean quickly showered and got dressed. He made sure to avoid all other conversation with his friends, which luckily turned into who was taking who to whatever dance was coming up. Dean believed it to be junior prom, which really meant nothing to him. He was not a junior, so he would not be attending. His friends told him that they had a junior girl that they knew would be willing to go with him if he wanted to attend. He thought about it but not being a junior was not his only excuse for not going, he also did not really dance, ever.

"See you guys at practice," Dean threw his backpack over his shoulder and made his way out of the locker room.

Dean could feel his heart increasing as he approached his next class. He had the class with Castiel and he knew that the words of his friends were going to continue echoing through his head. Even the paper he was nervous about having to read in front of the class was not enough to take over the knots being tied in his stomach. At what point did Dean stop standing up for his friends and become one of those guys who hurt other people. Even if he did not actively participate in the words, he did not do anything to stop them, that made him just as bad as the person spitting the venom.

Moments after Dean took his seat at the back of the class, the bell went off and he worked to focus his attention on the class. Today they were reading their research papers. They were supposed to look up something that meant something to them or interested them and then write a research paper around the topic. Dean wrote his paper on why his future car, his father's 1967 Chevy Impala, was one of the greatest cars ever put into production. Outside of passing school and possibly getting a girlfriend, nothing in this world really seemed of that big of importance except for that car. He could not wait for her to be his baby.

"For some, spring is a time of sunshine and the occasional rain fall. It is when you get to start wearing shorts and you desire spending more time outdoors, rather than cooped up in your room," Dean was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when a familiar voice began to speak. Dean was not sure how many people's papers he had missed before it became Castiel's turn. It was now that he realized what Victor was talking about. It was not a fencing outfit though; it was Castiel's bee keeping outfit. Dean remembered making fun of him for it when Castiel started keeping bees when they were eleven. Somehow, the jokes did not seem so funny now.

"However, for some people, spring is no walk in the park. Sure the sun is out but so are the allergies. More than fifty million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies every year. When you think of allergies, you think of the pollen in the air, whether it comes from trees or flowers, these plants are releasing a dander that makes your eyes water, your skin itch and causes the occasional sneezing fit. But what we do not take the time to think about is how important this time of year is for another species entirely, the honey bee."

Dean should have figured that Castiel was going to do his paper on Bees. Castiel's word revolved around his bees and learning all that he could about them. His plan was to become a bee keeper after college, as well as a bee advocate, because the bees could not speak for themselves of some shit.

Castiel continued on about bees and how they were important for the environment. He talked about the process of pollination and the importance of flowers. Dean smiled at this. He remembered when they were thirteen, Dean spent a whole week building a small garden in Castiel's backyard. It was hard to keep Castiel away from the area that he was building, but with the help of Castiel's parents, he was able to pull it off. It was a week of hard work but for Castiel's birthday, he was able to present him with his very own dandelion garden. Bee's appreciate many different types of flowers but Dandelion's were Castiel's favorite. Dean could not help but smile at the memory.

That smile faded when he made eye contact with Castiel. Here he was remembering this amazing thing that he had done for Castiel, something that made his best friend smile from ear to ear and he did not deserve it. He allowed his football friends to make fun of Castiel. He participated in them calling him a freak and did not even stand up for him when Victor called him a waste of space. Dean did not deserve Castiel's smiles.

"So save the bees," Castiel smile out upon the class, most of which were not even paying attention, "and plant some dandelions."

"Thank you Mr. Novak," Mrs. Harvelle patted him on the back and took her place once again at the front of the room. "We are going to finish our paper's tomorrow, so if you did not read your paper today, expect to be up here tomorrow."

Dean gave a sigh of relief as the bell rang, all he wanted to do was be far away from here. He wanted to be home, alone, able to think and hate himself in the privacy of his own room. But there were still two more classes for the day and he did not get to have the satisfaction.

"Hey freak," Dean heard Victor call out to Castiel as they exited their writing class. "Nice fencing outfit."

Dean looked from Victor to Castiel, one with eyes dark and the other with bright blue orbs fighting back tears. Unlike most kids, Castiel did not have years of school to get used to bullying, this was his first year of hate and Dean could see it breaking him down.

"Bee keeping clothing," Dean turned and corrected Victor, shaking his head. "If you are going to make fun of someone for something at least do it right."

Victor opened his mouth to speak but Dean raised his hand to stop him. He had no desire to hear what Victor had to say on the subject. Maybe he would say something hateful, maybe he wouldn't. Either way, Dean did not care. All Dean knew was that he missed the feeling of making Castiel smiled and currently Castiel was smiling from ear to ear.

"Suit," Castiel corrected Dean with a smile and bright eyes that forced Dean to smile as well. "If you are going to correct someone on how to make fun of me, correct them correctly. It's a suit."


End file.
